and a very good sunday to you. hello. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters in new york city on this day. desperation in puerto rico is where we start today. aid slow lly coming in, but foo fuel for generators there, and even cash is scarce at the moment. relief efforts overshadowed by the president's attacks on san juan's mayor. >> speaking from his fancy golf club, playing golf with his billionaire friends, attacking the mayor of san juan, who is struggling to bring electricity to the island, food to the island, water to the island, gas to the island, that is just -- it is unspeakable! and i don't know what world trump is living in. then, o.j. is out.

the former football legend released from a las vegas prison early this morning after serving nine years for armed robbery. then, locked in unity. nfl players take a knee while others stand arm in arm for another week of national anthem protests. and rapper jay z makes a statement on the controversy, wearing a colin kaepernick jersey as "saturday night live" kicks off a brand-new season with a focus on trump. >> ma'am, i don't know if you know this, but you're in an island in the water. the ocean water. big ocean. with fishies and bubbles and turtles that bite. we want to help you, but we have to take care of america first. >> wait, you do know we're a u.s. territory, don't you? >> well, there we're going to start with puerto rico, where critical resources slowly starting to stream in 11 days after hurricane maria ravaged the island. yesterday fema delivered 214 shipping containers. those were filled with food and

water. they say 2.5 million liters of water and 2 million meals have been delivered. power is still limited, though, at 5%. more than 8,000 people remain in shelters on this day, but telecommunications services are slowly getting back online, just 36%, though. more fuel has been shipped as well, opening up 721 gas stations. let's go to nbc's mariana atencio in san juan. and you heard some of the data that we gave out. when you're out there in the streets from whom you've been speaking with, does that sound about right? are you seeing that? >> reporter: day after day, richard, we've been seeing these long lines of thousands of people lining up for the most basic necessities -- ice, food, water, gas. and they keep telling us over and over again that they're not getting the supplies that they need, that they can't go to work because they're having to stand on these lines for hours on end

every day. and that is in san juan and in the metro areas on the outskirts of san juan, where we've been for the past couple of days. but actually, today i just got off a black hawk, where i was able to survey some of the damage in the satellite islands of vieques with general buchanan, the three-star general that was assigned to lead the relief here in puerto rico and ricardo rosa-yu, the governor of puerto rico. it was just this aerial surveillance. and then we went on the ground in these two islands, and you can just imagine the isolation those american citizens are feeling. we're talking about 15 to 20,000 people on these two islands that depend solely on the bigger island. when we were on the ground there, locals told us that they were actually harder hit by irma, but the recovery was much easier because the larger island was able to supply them with what they need.

but now with the decimation that we're seeing here on the larger island in puerto rico, in areas like all of these that we're seeing, you can just imagine those people there are not remotely getting what they need 11 days after this storm. richard? >> mariana, having that point of view probably completely surprising, despite your experience seeing such catastrophes before. when you're high in the sky, you don't want to see it but you need to see it. nbc's mariana atencio in san juan. thank you so much. appreciate it. after attacking the mayor of san juan, puerto rico, saturday, president trump is now doubling down again on this sunday. on twitter this morning, he said, "politically motivated ingreats were obscuring" what he suede a successful recovery effort from puerto rico. sdwlaust part of it. congresswoman maxime waters of california. thank you for being with me. you heard the reporting coming out from san juan by mariana and

also the tweets. and that is just one of the words, ingrates, that the president is using in this back and forth. what do you make of that? >> well, you know, this president does not have the ability to be compassionate at all. he has absolutely embarrassed himself and his administration in the way that he has lacked leadership as it relates to puerto rico and to the virgin islands. he's been absent. and then he's lied about all that he has done. he's called the news media fake because you're reporting the truth. this president, as i've always said, is despicable, deplorable, and what he's doing and the the way that he's accusing puerto rico of being irresponsible and they're victims because of what they have not done and the debt that they have and the fact that they have not taken care of

their infrastructure, it is absolutely unconscionable, and history is not going to be kind to him. >> and so many are working so hard, as you know here, representative, on puerto rico at the moment to try to make things better. that also happening as he gets there on tuesday. but before he gets there, there is today, representative. there is the nfl. there is the issue and the controversy about players again kneeling to protest police brutality today, that happening for a second week in a row. we have our worksheet out. we've been following every game over the last two weekends so far. when you look at what they are doing right now, these players, as they are protesting, we understand why they're doing it, but why is the president so obsessed with focusing on something that for them is so personal? he doesn't seem, again, to be passing the empathy test here. >> that's because this dishonest president is again playing to a certain part of his constituency, pointing to those

athletes, those black athletes, for the most part, who are rich. they're doing better than you're doing. and look at them, they're disrespecting our flag. you're absolutely right, it's not about the flag. it is about a protest and to say that there's something wrong with the young, black males in particular and people who are being killed at the hands of the people who we have supposedly to protect and serve us, and they're doing it in such an orderly fashion. they're not out ranting and raving on the street. they're not out organizing in communities and telling others to do anything. they're simply demonstrating their feelings about what is going on, and they're protected by the constitution. the constitution of the united states protects freedom of speech, and he is misusing it and sending again that message to a certain constituency that these people are the cause of

all of your problems. it's racist. >> when you look at constituencies, you can't help but look at another one of his campaign promises. let's talk about tax reform, right? >> oh, yes. >> you saw the plan come out this week. >> yes. >> the gradings of it are mixed. some saying this does not help the middle class, but the speaker's saying the goal here is to help the middle class. do you think it does achieve that objective there? >> no. no, he's lied again. as a matter of fact, when you look at the bottom tax rate where people are now paying 10%, he's increased that to 12%! but when you look at the corporate tax rate, he is almost decreasing that by 50% from i believe about 35% to about 20%. he's taking care of the big corporate friends of his. and to tell you the truth, they're not even paying the 35% at this point. with all of the loopholes and

the fancy accounting that they do, they're only paying about 18%, so they're going to be paying less and less. and he's lied about it. this is not a middle class tax cut. as a matter of fact, he further goes on with the estate tax, where he wants to eliminate that altogether. and the only people who benefit from that are people who weearn $5.5 million or more. so, this president is lying, distorting, not telling the truth, taking care of his friends and the richest people in america. >> democratic congresswoman maxine waters from california, my home state, great to see you as always and i thank you for your time. >> you're so welcome, and thank you. >> you bet ya. now usa today capitol hill reporter eliza collins, kapoor with bloomberg politics and nbc political reporter bengie sarland. bengie, i want to start with you on this. when we look at the developments so far from president trump, he's continuing to praise his administration's handling of the puerto rican crisis and blasting

his critics as politically motivated ingrates. those are his words. do you understand, or what's the perspective there from your view, the benefit that the president hopes to accomplish here with his moves? >> well, it all seems to fit into his unusual m.o. in situations like this where he's challenged, and frankly, he doesn't like images on tv. he lashes out, he gets defensive, he starts accusing people of having political motivations, he starts singling out other people who have praised him and saying look at them instead. it's just his general idea, he tries to tell everyone that every single criticism is in bad faith for the worst reason as part as some partisan conspiracy, essentially. all of this is pretty much his usual m.o. i think it's pretty debatable how much of this is political strategy or him trying to achieve something so much as just reflexible response at this point, but either way, you're getting a very familiar scene

here. >> eliza, is this president on the wrong side of history? you heard the very strong and clear words coming from the left in maxine waters. she used the word racist in her responses just in the last three or four minutes. >> well, and she's not the only one we saw. senator bernie sanders brought up saying, you know, it's the color of their skin, that might be why he's doing this. i think he's definitely giving talking points to the left and he's putting republicans in an uncomfortable position. someone like senator marco rubio, who has been on top of this. he went out to puerto rico. he's been kind of leading the charge on this. now he has to be asked questions about president trump, rather than just saying, look, my party's got it, we're moving forward. and president trump was praised for his response to the hurricanes in texas and louisiana and in florida, and we saw his poll numbers go up. so it's really interesting that he's kind of going the opposite direction and putting his party on the defensive and giving talking points to the democrats. >> and speaking of senator marco rubio, he did weigh in this morning on some of this harsh

rhetoric going back and forth on the puerto rican situation here. so to you, saheel, are republicans, are they beginning to question whether this clear command and control at the top is absent, really, at this moment? are they saying, hey, hang on a second? >> well, you have figures like senator rubio who are just trying to stay focused on the situation. i think republicans usually like to steer away from president trump's feuds, unless it's with them, in which case they don't vl a choice. but you're seeing republicans do what they ordinarily do, stay as far away from the situation as they can. they don't want to get involved, they don't want to criticize the president, because they know what happens when they do that, and they don't like him doing this. but as bengie noted, it's par for the course. it's who he is. he doesn't take criticism well. he responds in this loop of a fashion where he'll feel slighted, he'll criticize, he'll see that criticism get news coverage and he'll get riled up and do it again. you know, we've seen this on many, many occasions.

we saw this last week in his feuds with nfl and with some nba players. so you know, it's partly to be expected. he's done this with figures ranging all the way, going all the way back to the campaign, a beauty queen, the parents of a gold star family. so it's not really a surprise, even though it is shocking to people. >> and the underline or the common thread here of many is that they're people of color is what you're saying, sahil. bengie -- >> not exclusively. it includes senator mcconnell, too, but absolutely, he doesn't take well to that. >> on tuesday, president trump heads to puerto rico, bengie. he will hope to make things better. he will face the mayor there of san juan, who's been quite critical, very clear about her messaging about what is not working out well. do you think he turns the corner there? do you think that will be the outcome? >> well, it's difficult to say. for one thing, with presidential visits, it's often about what you're trying to accomplish by being there. often, presidents wait to go to

a disaster area sometimes because they don't want to distract from the efforts by the security and logistics needed to have their visit work smoothly. but in this case, it's possible, as the mayor brought up herself, having the president there might actually add some urgency to this. he might be able to see problems whereby issuing an order from the top he can maybe smooth out lines of communications, make sure it's clear who's in charge, troubleshoot a bit. so, there's definitely possible benefits to this visit, but right now it's just hard to tell where this is going. >> eliza collins, suhil kapoor, bengie soreland, thank you all three. >> thank you. it started with the nfl protests and ended with puerto rico, but there were plenty of headlines in between as well. why last week may have been the president's worst since taking office, and you've heard that before. and we're following major developments out of nevada. after nine years behind bars, o.j. simpson released from prison. what's next? everyone else. but on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain.

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well, in the dark of night, o.j. simpson was released on parole, and early this morning, simpson walked out of the nevada prison that's been his home now for nine years. the nevada department of corrections issued a photograph of simpson just before his release around midnight local time. in july, the nfl hall of famer won parole after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence for kidnapping and armed robbery. in 1995, simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, nicole, and ron goldman in a highly publicized trial, which you probably remember. nbc's steve patterson is in las vegas for us and joins us now. what do we know about o.j.'s next move, and will he find a home? >> reporter: richard, we know o.j.'s next move is likely to be reactionary.

that's because despite his best wishes, at some point, o.j. simpson has to resurface. the only reason why we're not aware necessarily of where exactly his location is at this point is because you mentioned it, exactly the manner in which he was released overnight. it was the dark of night. he was whisked away by an unidentified person believed to be a close friend who took him away from the prison in which he stayed for nine years. that is unusual, because it should be closer to the prison of origin where the crime occurred, which would have been las vegas. instead, it was lovelock here in nevada. so, the question is who took him, where exactly is he? we know by process of elimination a few things. we know where he isn't, because he was not signed to transfer to a place that makes sense like california, where images and the conjuration of the trial of the century, as you mentioned, occurred, that 1994 bronco chase

leading to the trial, leading to the 1995 acquittal that would divide a nation. and so, the second choice also obvious -- florida. attorney general pam biondi, though, has other opinions about where o.j. simpson should be. our alex witt talked to her earlier today. i want to play that sound for you right now. >> folks, wherever he is, use your cell phone. if you see him drinking, if you see him misbehaving, you let us know, because in florida, our law enforcement officers, our department of corrections, we're going to hold his feet to the fire and he is going to have to comply with our laws. >> reporter: and so, you hear a very strong rebuttal from the attorney general. her word is not binding in this case. o.j. simpson, if he decides to go to florida and he signs the paperwork, he can do that, although you do hear from her and then you hear from people opinionated also in california. so again, the question is, where is o.j. simpson? believed to be, by best

accounts, remaining in nevada until further notice. until we know more, we've basically talked to his attorney and his team. they say o.j. simpson is 70 years old at this point. they say he's done his time. they say he's served for what he's tried to do -- and you see people here with an opinion, as you can see. we're in the vegas strip, very populated area. but his attorneys are telling people that he served his time, he's 70 years old, and he just wants to live the rest of his life now. unknown whether or not he'll be able to do that with how much fame surrounds this case. back to you, richard. >> and steve, as the environment shows and the sign, fabulous las vegas, fabulous for many reasons, not necessarily for o.j. simpson right now. thank you so much, steve. steve patterson there for us. we're also following developments out of spain where hundreds have been injured. chaos and violence breaking out as catalonia votes for independence. we have a live update.

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welcome back. to spain we go. over 400 people injured following a violent police crackdown on voters in catalonia. this morning police stormed polling areas to stop an independence vote that the spanish government has declared illegal. footage showing police hitting citizens with batons and forcibly dragging them from polling areas. barcelona's mayor denouncing the violence on twitter, demanding "an immediate end to police charges against the defenseless population." nbc's matt bradley is in barcelona there in catalonia. and matt, this has been a rift between what is catalonia there, the catalon movement that goes back centuries. why are we seeing what's happening today, and what are we seeing take place right now in this evening hour? >> reporter: well, thanks, richard. as you mentioned, the genesis of this goes back hundreds of years to the early 18th century, and that's when the catalan region,

where i am now, the capital of which is barcelona, a city everybody knows, was annexed forcibly by the spanish. in those ensuing centuries, we've seen a lot of agitation to try to separate once again. this region is one of the richest in spain, and a lot of people here feel as though they're giving so much to the spanish nation and getting so little in return, and that's been a feeling that's just been persistent for the past several centuries. but richard, you ask what's been kind of going on here? i'm in plaza de catalonia, in the very center of barcelona. and really, just moments ago, voted ended here. and we heard from the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy. he came out and spoke to national television. that was broadcast on this screen right behind me. he made no mention of the police brutality that you're seeing these images of now. he made no mention of this referendum as possibly something that he would honor. he said very explicitly, no referendum has taken place, and he called it theater. now, the officials here in the

catalon catalonian region, they came out earlier and said that only a fraction of those polling places were actually allowed to operate. and they said it's going to be very difficult to count the votes, because remember, in the week before this referendum, there was a major crackdown on all of the people who were involved in organizing this. now, all this just goes to show that no matter what the results are, the schism between the catalonian region and the rest of spain, that's going to persist. richard? >> one of the parallels, perhaps the united states might be the size of california, and california leaving the union and catalonia wanting to leave there. thank you so much there. nbc's matt bradley in barcelona, 9:30 in the evening. thank you. another week of national anthem protests in the nfl. we're live with fan reaction from the ravens/steelers game in baltimore. what i think a lot of people who are protesting on that don't necessarily see is that other people see it as disrespecting the country, what it stands for,

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♪ all right, hip-hop superstar jay z making his own political statement. when you see him turn around, you can see that he's wearing a colin kaepernick jersey with the very name on the back of his jersey there on the season premiere of "saturday night live," that happening last night. the rapper showing his support for the nfl's national anthem protest. though today we saw more players performing a variation on the protest, some kneeling before the anthem, some just simply locking arms. this as president trump continued his attacks today, tweeting a video of fans and players standing before the anthem before an nfl game with the message here saying "19,000 respecting our national anthem

#standforouranthem." all right, i want to bring in mark burns, co-founder and ceo of the now television network and a supporter of president trump. we have david xyron, sports editor for "the nation," tyler tynes, writer for "sb nation," rashad robinson, executive director for color of change. great group here. rashad, we'll start with you on this. what is the moment as we watch here that we are in, right? what is it that we are seeing here as we saw very clear movements last sunday, the first sunday, a little bit less today, but we're still early in the afternoon so far. where do you think we're at? >> i think we're at a point where we're seeing the disruption, we're seeing more and more americans ask questions about why, and we're seeing more football players speak out in various ways. the beautiful op ed piece from eric reid, the second player to actually knee along with kaepernick in "the new york times" this past week. we're seeing players put out

their own platform around their demands of the nfl, pushing them to make november a month for racial justice the way the nfl has highlighted other issues, important issues like breast cancer and other things. in a league that is 70% black, the league really sort of not just putting out statements, not just locking arms, but putting some real muscle and energy behind talking about racial justice and actually pushing for real structural change. and so, i think that we are in a really important moment, and i think for the viewers, it's important to remember that we look back at sort of struggles of the past in the '60s, and you think about dr. martin luther king or the students who sat in at lunch counters. they were polling at 30% or 35%. so, the fact of the matter is that america's always had a problem with struggle, but it's been the brave people who have stood up and pushed back that have consistently moved our country forward.

and so, i think that really we're seeing an ongoing push and an ongoing sense of moving forward. >> and as that impetus seems to have moderated a bit, it still is growing, the president also seems to be sticking to his guns here. and i just want to read one of his latest statements from last night. it reads, "very important that nfl players stand tomorrow and always for the playing of our national anthem. respect our flag and our country!" dave, but that isn't, at least by what all are saying, what they're protesting. they're protesting, again, the issue of black lives being lost. >> look, when donald trump speaks out about this, i mean, we should all be clear what this is. this is distract, demonize, and destroy. right now, this administration is rife with scandal. people in puerto rico are fighting for their lives. health care reform went down in flames.

no meaningful legislation passed. so what does donald trump have left? he has distract, demonize, and destroy. and i would argue that he stepped in it a week ago, because he said i'm going to demonize black dissenters who want to fight racism, and that is red meat for my base, and then they'll be happy with me and not saying, hey, the billionaire who goes to the bathroom on a gold toilet isn't getting anything done for poor white folks, what are we going to do? instead of saying that, they're saying, yeah, get colin kaepernick, get michael bennett! that's the reason we have problems in this world. so donald trump, though, he's serving up the red meat instead. but what i think today shows, which is so important, is the streamlining of the message. we don't need every nfl player standing up against trump, kneeling, talking about the anthem are we pro patriotism, anti -- all that stuff. what this is about is people like terence crutcher, charlena liles, people like michael brown, like tamir rice, people who have lost their lives to police violence and efforts to have reform, and donald trump is too scared to have that discussion, and so players are taking this into an

uncomfortable space to try to get us to have that discussion and go around the president because he's not willing to engage in this. only name-calling, slurs, slander and cussing at the mothers of these players. it's shameful, truly. >> tyler? >> i mean to add on that, what we're seeing from the president is that he's straying from the legislative agenda. we're seeing so much that this is becoming co-opted. these protests are gentrified. we're not seeing the trueness of what colin kaepernick's message is anymore. we're not seeing why or even getting pronunciations of racial justice. we're not even saying the words race in statements we're getting from owners. so, the problem now is we're seeing a trickle-down effect and a reversing of the kaepernick effect from the president down. if he strays from the legislative agenda, he's also saying it's great if the players link arms, which isn't the message, which isn't what we want to see. we need to see more radical measures. we need to see more players on knees. but now what jerry jones did at least is with jerry jones coming away from the anthem and taking a knee without the anthem, we're seeing that it's not really the song or the flag or this vision

of patriotism. it's the message, and this message is akin to blackness, and that is making the white consumers of the nfl afraid, and they're afraid of these progeny of slaves -- they're afraid of what these black boys and these black women are able to do with protest. >> mark, you are a supporter of president trump. and as you watched how he has handled this so far, how would you grade him? >> well, you know, i think -- let's first just be clear. dr. martin luther king, abraham lincoln, and even malcolm x died, fought in dying so that we can have this type of a peaceful protest in america. it is every man's and woman's right to protest in america without government retribution. but i think, as the gentleman just said, the focus is beginning to change. because it is a protest that is impacting the embodiment of what millions of americans and, yes, veterans who believe and see it as a straight disrespect, even

though we recognize it's not about, as kaepernick has declared, it's not about the flag, it's about the protests of police brutality, which that's a whole other subject that we should be discussing. i think we should be focusing on the department of justice if those who believe the department of justice is the issue. but i believe the problem is not so much within the department of justice. the real problem is in the economic issues within the strongholds of the black community. it's not about civil rights, it's about economic rights. and when you see people like roger goodell, who would not allow nfl players to, you know, honor the 9/11 victims, but yet will honor this type of a protest, it is america's right to protest, but not on the job. and i think -- >> why doesn't the president -- >> i think if we're going do for one, we do for all. >> mark, why doesn't the president do both? >> i think it's important what we do for one, we do all. if the nfl players really want to protest -- >> mark -- >> if the nfl players really want to protest, instead of offering up more -- >> mark, can you hear me? >> -- nfl football camps, we

should be offering up new business camps. >> mark, why doesn't the president discuss that? that does not negate his support for the anthem? why does he not discuss it in those very vernaculars that you brought up? >> well, again, the president's job is to defend the values, the core values of america. i mean, again, there are millions upon millions upon millions of americans, blacks and whites, hispanics and asians who feel veterans and nonveterans, who feel that this protest is a disrespect to the american flag, even though some say it's not. the fact of the matter is, this is a protest that's causing division and not unity. listen, it's not about protest. it should be about progress. and it is very difficult to progress -- >> i have to let some of the other folks. rashad, go ahead. >> there has never been a time in this country where black people standing up and protesting has not been met with

pushback, has not been met with people standing on the sidelines as we have been working to climb the mountain saying you are not climbing the mountain correctly. you should just do it this way and we'll support you. that is the type of trickery that has always happened. people talking about how we are fighting and moving for justice instead of joining in and figuring out how to schedulely actually do it. the fact of the matter is we would not be having this conversation if colin kaepernick, who is still being black-balled by these owners who have put out these statements, donated millions of dollars to trump. we would not be having these conversations if he had not been brave and other players had not stood up. >> we are not listening -- >> this is how we move our country forward -- >> we are not listening to each other. >> rashad robinson, thank you, david zirin, thank you. thank you for your time. we've of course gone a lot longer. mark burns, i don't know if you could tell, we had to pull you back, my friend, because we wanted to let the others in on this. thank you all four. president trump is praising

fema and the military for their work in puerto rico. congressman reuben gallego will weigh in on the white house's response ahead of the president's visit this week.

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it's been a week and a half since hurricane maria devastated puerto rico, and many there are still struggling to get basic necessities like food, water, and fuel. and today there are reports a nursing home was vandalized. the thieves allegedly taking an electric generator from there. president trump is praising federal relief efforts, tweeting this morning, "we have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in puerto rico." he then criticized what he called politically motivated ingrates. joining me is congressman ruben gallego of arizona. representative, you've been critical certainly of this president in the past. he is praising the federal relief efforts so far for this u.s. territory where we have millions of americans now that are suffering. what is it that he needs to do right now? he's going to be there on tuesday.

what do you want him to do so he can turn this around from your perspective, based on your criticism so far? >> well, you have to deploy assets quicker and further inland. and this is something that i've been trying to push both at fema and with northcom. you know, there has not been proper deployment of very essential, critical infrastructure and/or equipment. there wasn't prepositioning of this. you know, we should have had at least an aircraft carrier on its way, the "uss comfort" on its way before the hurricane even hit. and even at this point right now, there are many parts of the island that have not been contacted. we don't have a good assessment about what the needs are on other parts of the island. and the president needs to come down and come down hard on fema and the department of defense to actually do their jobs. stop making excuses. for once, act like a president, and you know, try to fix the situation. the best way to prove, by the way, your quote/unquote enemies wrong is to succeed. and by the way, we want the

president to succeed. we want puerto rico to be saved. we want people's lives to be stabilized, but the president's not doing it right now, and that is why we are putting so much pressure on him and anybody else we can. >> part of the united states since the 1800s, just like the state of texas when it gained statehood in the 1800s as well. and we drew out this little comparison here, representative, and you cannot help but see the reaction, at least -- and we are earlier in at the moment, but the amount of resources that hit texas versus puerto rico on the timeline. why the stark difference, you think? >> well, the stark difference i think is just purely politics. florida and texas have votes in the electoral college. i don't think puerto rico does. i think also, the president, you know, has conveniently forgotten that puerto ricans are americans and deserve all the protection and expectation that any other american would get in any part

of this country. and you know, that being said, there's a time to change this. there's always time to turn around. and if the president wants to do that, he has the capacity to do that. there aren't enough hilos right now. there aren't enough water filtration systems. the coms is down. there are just so many things he could be doing if he actually got off the golf course and paid attention. and i want to point out, there's a national -- there's a natural and national disaster going on with 3.5 million americans and the president is golfing. we would not allow any other president to be doing this right now. >> if it were texas, you wouldn't be seeing this, i guess, is what you're saying, but this is puerto rico. >> correct. >> all right. thank you so much. i appreciate your time. arizona congressman ruben gallego. have a afternoon. >> thank you. you, too. >> all righty. outrage over remarks about the nfl, a loss on health care, and then another in alabama. our panel will weigh in on what could be the president's worst week since he took office. your brain is an amazing thing.

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sir, mayor cruz of san juan is on the line. >> i'm begging you. puerto rico needs your help. >> i hear you loud and clear, and you called the best person for the job. trust me, i know things are, as the local says, despacito. we're going to get you more help to you. we'll get you immediately, probably by tuesday or wednesday at the latest. >> mr. president, that's not good enough. >> well, you should have paid your bills. fema takes a few days unless you join fema prime. >> all right, that's the way "saturday night live" dove straight into president trump's clash with the mayor of san juan, puerto rico, in its season premiere, but that's just the end of what may have been one of the president's worst weeks in office. his son-in-law, jared kushner, was revealed to be among those in the white house using private e-mail accounts for government business. the latest republican health care bill collapsed. trump's tax plan was met with

claims that he and other wealthy americans would benefit over the middle class. on thursday, the administration was forced to defend its response to hurricane maria. friday, bringing the ouster of health and human services secretary tom price, and there could be more related to that misuse. taxpayer money. let's bring in former hillary clinton campaign adviser, jess mcintosh, now executive editor of "share blue" and also republican strategist rick tyler. we were just listening to some of the items there, and you know, we were teasing this segment as is this the worst week yet for this president. and i was just looking through some of the headlines over the last, you know, six months, and we've definitely asked that question week after week after week. how would you put it all together here? >> well, it's hard to rate one week after the next about which was a bad week. >> right. >> it was clearly a bad week for the president. everything you mentioned from

jared kushner and ivanka trump and others using private e-mail, which was central to his campaign against hillary clinton, so there's hypocrisy there. then you have secretary price using private planes. to be clear, sometimes they have to use private planes, but there was some seemed like egregious misuse of taxpayer funds taking place in places that are easily served by commercial. and then trump's embroiled in this nfl national anthem where the protesters cringe during the national anthem. he may be still winning on that issue, but it's divisive. and on top of that, you have puerto rico, which they're learning the failures of last mile logistics because there's lots -- there's seemingly lots of resources in puerto rico but no ability to get them out to the people who actually need them in a timely way. >> and that distribution so, like you said, last mile so important. jess, what is happening -- and we showed a little bit of it at the top here.

"saturday night live," that was a very clear swing at the president. and then later in the show coming out again very strongly against the president. we're seeing now, at least in the last week, we're seeing entertainment figures, spaces in entertainment, like jimmy kimmel, for instance, is another example of coming out against health care. we're seeing entertainment move against this president in spaces they haven't been in before. >> right. i think that we're experiencing a moment where the entire country is realizing that this is not normal, and that means that the normal political lanes are all exploded and we need to get involved if we're going to get involved. so it's not just entertainment, as not just celebrities, although i did think jimmy kimmel did a wonderfully thoughtful, measured, fact-based approach to health care reform. it's not just the celebrities. it's also sports figures, it's chefs, it's -- >> part of the entertainment infrastructure. >> every industry is coming together to say that this is not all right. and the one place where i disagree with what rick said was that trump might be winning on the nfl issue.

i think in a certain sense he is because that is clearly simply pandering to his most racist base while he ignores what they want on, you know, raising taxes on the middle class and not being able to repeal obamacare and misuse of taxpayer funds for exorbitant private planes. the only thing that might keep them at bay right now is throwing them a bone, like criticizing black athletes for kneeling before, during, protesting in any way during nfl games. i think that is, however -- it's causing the dam to break for everybody else. i mean, this is why everybody is starting to come out and say that this is not okay and recognizing that trump's rhetoric is incredibly racist when it applies to substantive policy as well as these sort of dog whistles that he throws out. >> and rick, please respond to that, but i can't also help but think of when he so famously said he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and people would still vote for him. has he figuratively done this over and over again, and reached

that last person, quote/unquote, that he potentially is shooting, again, in his analogy here. >> i'm not sure. it is remarkable that he seems to have teflon. in terms of the nfl, i was just quoting the polls, and the polls give it a slight edge. i think i know why that is. you know, it's just -- it is uncomfortable to have people kneel or protest during the national anthem, whether it's a good cause or not. and sometimes we need to be uncomfortable, and that's okay. but look, alabama i think was a good opportunity to see that people like donald trump. they loved when he went down there, but then they went and voted for donald trump's, luther strange's opponent, roy moore. so i don't know. they're not mad about it. they're not angry with him. >> right. we'll see if that's a trend, because as, again, a lot of those run for election get out-righted by other candidates that you're going to be watching carefully. thank you very much. we've got to finish it there. tweets from the president calling talks with north korea a waste of time. the message he's sending and its

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ensure. always be you. welcome back. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters in new york city. here's what we're following for you at this hour. critical resources gradually flowing into puerto rico. this is new video that we just got in of shipments of food and water arriving. fema says 2.5 million liters of water and 2 million meals have been delivered and more than 8,000 people remain in shelters, though, at the moment. power still limited at just 5%, but telecommunications services are slowly getting back online to 36%. meanwhile, more fuel has been shipped in, opening up 721 gas stations. nbc's mariana atencio is in san juan following the recovery efforts. and mariana, you just came from -- if you were looking from very high in the